Deuteronomy 10:17-18

10:17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe, 10:18 who justly treats ¹  the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing.

Job 34:19

34:19 who shows no partiality to princes,

and does not take note of ²  the rich more than the poor,

because all of them are the work of his hands?

Matthew 22:16

22:16 They sent to him their disciples along with the Herodians, ³  saying, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ⁴  You do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality. ⁵ 

Acts 10:34

10:34 Then Peter started speaking: ⁶  “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people, ⁷ 

Romans 2:11

2:11 For there is no partiality with God.

Galatians 2:6

2:6 But from those who were influential ⁸  (whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism between people ⁹ ) – those influential leaders ¹⁰  added ¹¹  nothing to my message. ¹² 

Ephesians 6:9

6:9 Masters, ¹³  treat your slaves ¹⁴  the same way, ¹⁵  giving up the use of threats, ¹⁶  because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven, ¹⁷  and there is no favoritism with him.

Colossians 3:25

3:25 For the one who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, ¹⁸  and there are no exceptions. ¹⁹ 

Colossians 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 1:17

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ²⁰  in him.

[10:18]  ¹ tn Or “who executes justice for” (so NAB, NRSV); NLT “gives justice to.”

[34:19]  ² tn The verb means “to give recognition; to take note of” and in this passage with לִפְנֵי (lifne, “before”) it means to show preferential treatment to the rich before the poor. The word for “rich” here is an unusual word, found parallel to “noble” (Isa 32:2). P. Joüon thinks it is a term of social distinction (Bib 18 [1937]: 207-8).

[22:16]  ³ sn The Herodians are mentioned in the NT only once in Matt (22:16 = Mark 12:13) and twice in Mark (3:6; 12:13; some mss also read “Herodians” instead of “Herod” in Mark 8:15). It is generally assumed that as a group the Herodians were Jewish supporters of the Herodian dynasty (or of Herod Antipas in particular). In every instance they are linked with the Pharisees. This probably reflects agreement regarding political objectives (nationalism as opposed to submission to the yoke of Roman oppression) rather than philosophy or religious beliefs.

[22:16]  ⁴ sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question of the Pharisees and Herodians was specifically designed to trap Jesus.

[22:16]  ⁵ tn Grk “And it is not a concern to you about anyone because you do not see the face of men.”

[10:34]  ⁶ tn Grk “Opening his mouth Peter said” (a Semitic idiom for beginning to speak in a somewhat formal manner). The participle ἀνοίξας (anoixa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[10:34]  ⁷ tn Grk “God is not one who is a respecter of persons,” that is, “God is not one to show partiality” (cf. BDAG 887 s.v. προσωπολήμπτης). L&N 88.239 translates this verse “I realize that God does not show favoritism (in dealing with people).” The underlying Hebrew idiom includes the personal element (“respecter of persons”) so the phrase “in dealing with people” is included in the present translation. It fits very well with the following context and serves to emphasize the relational component of God’s lack of partiality. The latter is a major theme in the NT: Rom 2:11; Eph 2:11-22; Col 3:25; Jas 2:1; 1 Pet 1:17. This was the lesson of Peter’s vision.

[2:6]  ⁸ tn Or “influential leaders.” BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.a.β has “the influential men Gal 2:2, 6b. A fuller expr. w. the same mng., w. inf. added…vss. 6a, 9.” This refers to the leadership of the Jerusalem church.

[2:6]  ⁹ tn Grk “God does not receive the face of man,” an idiom for showing favoritism or partiality (BDAG 887-88 s.v. πρόσωπον 1.b.α; L&N 88.238).

[2:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “influential people”; here “leaders” was used rather than “people” for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy with the word “people” in the previous parenthetical remark. See also the note on the word “influential” at the beginning of this verse.

[2:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “contributed.” This is the same word translated “go to ask advice from” in 1:16, but it has a different meaning here; see L&N 59.72.

[2:6]  ¹² tn Or “added nothing to my authority.” Grk “added nothing to me,” with what was added (“message,” etc.) implied.

[6:9]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:9]  ¹⁴ tn Though the Greek text only has αὐτούς (autous, “them”), the antecedent is the slaves of the masters. Therefore, it was translated this way to make it explicit in English.

[6:9]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “do the same things to them.”

[6:9]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “giving up the threat.”

[6:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “because of both they and you, the Lord is, in heaven…”

[3:25]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “that which he did wrong.”

[3:25]  ¹⁹ tn The Greek word used here is προσωπολημψία (proswpolhmyia) and is usually translated “partiality.” It is used to describe unjust or unrighteous favoritism (Rom 2:11, Eph 6:9, Jas 2:1). When it comes to disciplining his children for their sins, God will treat all equally with no partiality.

[1:17]  ²⁰ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.